By Rick Delgado
Figuring out the best ways to keep an eye on your employees and ensure they’re doing their jobs can be tricky. On the one hand, doing so helps to increase their productivity and reach company goals, but on the other hand, being too forceful in this area can lead to pushback from workers. The whole idea has only gotten more complicated as many organizations move to institute some form of remote work if not adopting the practice completely. But just as technology has been used to help employees get more done from nearly anywhere, it can also be utilized to monitor them and keep track of their productivity. With the right combination of strategy and management skill, you’ll quickly find that these methods are the most effective for getting the results you want.
Project Management Apps
As the slogan goes, “there’s an app for that.” It’s true in many respects, especially especially as developers and programmers have used their skills to craft new applications for nearly every type of activity you can engage in. The same holds true for project management. Many businesses conduct their operations through projects, and there’s a large assortment of apps out there to help organizations keep track of those projects and what progress is being made. Apps like Roadmap can be used by employees and managers to see how a project is coming along. Employees can use these apps to tracks their own achievements, and managers can see how individual workers are doing and what they’re getting done.
Focus on Results
It’s true that you may want to know that your employees are spending their time wisely, but some organizations are choosing to focus more on results than how each worker is spending each minute of the day. Of course this also requires a way to measure progress, and keeping that measurement consistent is key to ensuring employees are staying on task. If the results are meeting expectations, then further monitoring will need to be done, but if employees are able to get the desired results, you’ll be able to establish a new level of trust that doesn’t call for over-the-shoulder watching all the time. More trust and more autonomy will usually lead to more work getting done.
Using Video
On the other end of the spectrum, some types of organizations do require managers to check in with employees at any moment, just to see what’s getting done. This can be a challenge if you’re a remote worker yourself, but using a remote video monitoring service can give you the ability to see what’s going on in the office at all hours of the day. A strategy such as this can lead to the added effect of keeping employees productive since they never know when the boss might be watching through the video feed. It’s a simple yet effective way to see how employees are spending their hours and suggest any productivity improvements for the future.
Time Trackers
For those who don’t feel like they need to keep a physical watch over their employees, there are plenty of time track apps that do the job just fine. Similar to project management apps, time tracking software allows employees to be accountable for their time on the job. While each app differs, the basic idea is for workers to fill out how they spend their hours on the clock. With the right program, you’ll be able to see exactly how long it takes an employee to perform a task. It’s a less obtrusive way to monitor employees, while also helping them come to their own conclusions on how to better spend their time.
These are just the methods that are available right now. Some future technologies may give even more insight that will help increase productivity at an organization. For example, wearable technology may be used to track every single movement an employee makes throughout the day. That would be a whole new level of monitoring, which would likely spark another discussion. Regardless, for now the options available to you are plentiful. With the right management skills, you’ll be able to utilize a mixture of techniques, apps, and services to ensure your employees are getting as much work done as possible.
Rick Delgado is a technology commentator and writer. Follow him @ricknotdelgado.
